Home Movie Day®

What Is Home Movie Day?
Home Movie Day is a celebration of amateur films and filmmaking held annually at many local venues worldwide. Home Movie Day events provide the opportunity for individuals and families to see and share their own home movies with an audience of their community, and to see their neighbors’ in turn. It’s a chance to discover why to care about these films and to learn how best to care for them.

Did You Know?
– Home movies have been named to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, alongside popular and esteemed classics such as Citizen Kane, Star Wars, and King Kong.
– While your home movies may be easier to watch in a digital or video copy, the original films, with proper care and storage, can last DECADES longer than new media formats.
– A growing number of local archives, museums, and historical societies are interested in collecting home movies of regular people–not just celebrities and major events.

Show Your Home Movies
Your home movies are likely a lot more interesting than you remember! Most Home Movie Day events are free and open to the public, and offer expert evaluation of films brought in by participants, as well as an opportunity to see your very own films in an open screening. If you have home movies on film that you’ve never seen, or haven’t watched since you inherited them from your grandparents–don’t let your films decay! Take them to Home Movie Day! Click here to find the Home Movie Day event nearest you.

What People Say About Home Movie Day

“Saving our film heritage should not be limited only to commercially produced films. Home movies do not just capture the important private moments of our family’s lives, but they are historical and cultural documents as well. Consider Abraham Zapruder’s 8mm film that recorded the assassination of President Kennedy or Nickolas Muray’s famously vibrant color footage of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera shot with his 16mm camera. Imagine how different our view of history would be without these precious films. Home Movie Day is a celebration of these films and the people who shot them. I urge anyone with an interest in learning more about how to care for and preserve their own personal memories to join in the festivities being offered in their community…”— Martin Scorsese

“There’s no such thing as a bad home movie. These mini-underground opuses are revealing, scary, joyous, always flawed, filled with accidental art and shout out from attics and closets all over the world to be seen again. Home Movie Day is an orgy of self-discovery, a chance for family memories to suddenly become show business. If you’ve got one, whip it out and show it now.”— John Waters

“Home Movie Day is the perfect opportunity for people to connect with our past and to move the conversation about preserving our cultural heritage into the future.”— Ken Burns

“Home Movie Day! What a fantastic idea — culture isn’t just the stuff that the studios make, it’s what we make of it. Content isn’t king, conversation is — and what better conversation-starters than the significant moments of your neighbours’ lives?”— Cory Doctorow

“The films you’ll see at Home Movie Day enable those of us who weren’t around at the time to visit moments like the New York World’s Fair of 1939-1940, and I for one can’t get enough of those. Documentary filmmakers build whole features around such footage, and I’m sure historians will continue to rely on amateur movies to tell them what life was like in 20th century America.” — Leonard Maltin

“Home Movie Day is important because our lives, our recollections, and our truth is recorded in home movies. One day, what the heck, c’mon!”— Steve Martin

“As a child, I used to think home movies, compared to proper films, inept and boring. But I’ve been converted–many examples I’ve seen have been beautifully shot and historically invaluable. See for yourself at your local Home Movie Day event in October.” — Kevin Brownlow, Academy Award winning film historian